2024 is one of the biggest years in recent memory for boxing’s heavyweight division. One of the biggest landscape-changing moments for the division came in the form of this past Saturday Anthony Joshua’s one-sided dominance of Daniel Dubois To retain the IBF Heavyweight Championship.
With the win, Dubois established himself as one of the heavyweight’s true elites and simultaneously pushed Joshua to the brink of irrelevance in the division after nearly a decade as world champion or undisputed top contender.
During Joshua’s reign, other dominant champions were Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury. Wilder’s best days are clearly behind him after the fight with Fury and terrific performances against Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang. Fury, meanwhile, lost his WBC championship to Usyk earlier this year and is set for a rematch in December.
Other heavyweights have seen their stock rise or fall, and the result has been a radical change after just three major players a few years. Let’s take a look at where things stand now, as well as the fights we’d like to see continue the positive momentum of boxing’s glamor division.
Oleksandr Usyk — WBO, WBA, WBC champion
Next fight: vs. Tyson Fury — December 21
Usyk cemented his case as a first-ballot Hall of Famer with his split decision win over Fury in May. Honestly, Usic deserved better than a split decision, dominating the fight for most of the stretch. While the general perception going into that fight was that Usyk would have to be a sharp boxer to avoid Fury’s size and physicality, it was Usyk who was the dominant physical force in the fight, when he was able to drop Fury in the eighth. With the round win, Usyk became the first fighter to combine every world title in boxing’s four-belt era. He accomplished the feat of becoming undisputed champion after previously being undisputed at cruiserweight.
Usyk is set to rematch Fury on December 21 and another win would only add to his legacy. It is unclear how long Usyk, 37, intends to continue fighting and if he does, whether he will continue to promote as a heavyweight. Although retirement has been floated before, Usyk himself has expressed interest in returning to cruiserweight in an attempt to become the undisputed champion at 200 pounds for a second time. Despite Usyk being stripped of the IBF title for political reasons — fighting his contractually-mandated rematch with Fury rather than facing an IBF-mandated challenger — there’s no doubt he remains. D Man in the heavyweight division.
Daniel Dubois – IBF Champion
Next fight: vs. Anthony Joshua — Date TBD
Dubois entered his fight with Joshua as a clear underdog but fought like the clear favorite to retain the IBF title he had won after the IBF stripped Usyk of the IBF from interim to full champion. Dubois came out blazing from the opening bell, putting pressure on Joshua and peppering him with power shots before scoring knockdowns in rounds 1, 3, 4 and 5, ending Joshua with a fifth-round knockdown.
Dubois continues his quest to not only become the best heavyweight in the world but to shake off the “quitter” tag unfairly assigned to him following his 2020 knockout loss to Joe Joyce. Dubois took a knee and went down for the count late in the fight after taking a direct jab to the already badly swollen eye. It appeared that Dubois had suffered a double orbital fracture in the bout and had nothing left to give. Some of those doubts bubbled up again when Dubois faced Usyk in 2023, after taking a knee twice, Dubois stayed down for the count. Now, he is a world champion with a signature win. After the fight, Joshua and his team said they plan to get their rematch streak going and that’s a good thing for Dubois because the fight was huge in both fighters’ home country of England and made a lot of sense for both.
Tyson Fury
Next fight: vs. Oleksandr Usyk — Dec. 21
Fury’s career has been anything but easy, though, due to his own problems including failed drug tests, substance-abuse problems and his weight ballooning at points in his career. Despite this, Fury was undefeated until his loss to Usyk and was clearly the best heavyweight in the world. Worrying signs of Fury’s decline may have appeared a fight earlier when he was knocked out by boxing newcomer and former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou. Fury didn’t look like the man who dominated the division against Ngannou for years and then was outboxed, outsmarted and, at times, beaten by Usyk.
Fury’s skills are good enough that he could beat Usyk in a rematch, but his 36-year-old body has a lot of miles on it — in and out of the ring. If Fury loses to Usyk in the rematch, don’t be surprised to see him retire. Of course, a long-awaited fight with Joshua could be a final big fight for both of them to lose — or win — their rematch.
Anthony Joshua
Next fight: vs. Daniel Dubois — Date TBD
Although Joshua has been an elite heavyweight for most of his career, including being a two-time unified champion, he has not been immune to disappointing performances. No disappointment is more infamous than Joshua’s June 2019 knockout loss to Andy Ruiz Jr. in a fight in which Joshua entered as a roughly -2500 favorite. Joshua has always managed to learn and adjust after those step-back performances. He did just that in the rematch with Ruiz, and after losing their first meeting with Usyk, he fared much better in his rematch, although Usyk also won the rematch. For that reason, Joshua shouldn’t count against Dubois in a rematch. Joshua was unprepared for Dubois’ aggression and allowed multiple defensive lapses to show.
Joshua is far from a perfect fighter but when his skills are all clicking, he is a handful for any fighter in the world. However, another loss to Dubois would make him a combined 0-4 against two men holding world championships, and it’s hard to see a clear path back to the top of the division from there.
Joseph Parker
Ideal next fight: vs. Agit Kabael
Parker has been a surprise entrant on the “True Contender” list over the past 10 months. In December, he dominated a passive Wilder for a career-best win. While Wilder’s recent performances have made it a little easier to write off that result, Parker erased any doubts about his rise four months later when he beat Jhilei Zhang in Saudi Arabia. After knocking out two top contenders, Parker now stands as the top contender to face the world champion in 2025, if he can avoid any mistakes.
Agit Kabael
Ideal next fight: v. Joseph Parker
Kabael entered a December fight as an underdog against over-rated prospect Arslanbek Makhmudov who had a few narrow wins over recognized names. After dropping Makhmudov repeatedly before earning a fourth-round stoppage, it’s clear that Kabael is more than just “an opponent.” Caballe further proved that point in May, taking seven rounds to knock out another undefeated prospect like Frank Sanchez. Kabael has shown his skills and emerged as a new player at the top end of the heavyweight division, and a fight with Parker would be a high-profile fight that could also determine the division’s true top contender after the dust settles from Usyk vs. Fury. And the Dubois vs. Joshua rematch.
Martin Cole
Ideal next fight: vs. Jhilei Zhang
When Jared Anderson, considered by many to be America’s heavyweight prospect of the year, was scheduled to face Bacall in August, it raised a few eyebrows. Bakole lost to Michael Hunter in 2018 but has since gone on a long winning streak with several quality wins. What’s more, Bakol is a big, strong heavyweight with power in both hands. Anderson’s team clearly made a very poor decision as Bacole beat the young American before scoring a fifth-round stoppage. Bacall needs one or two more wins against high profile opponents before gaining momentum in the title discussion, but a win over Anderson cements the 31-year-old as one of the heavyweights’ most relevant fighters.
Jhilei Zhang
Ideal next fight: vs. Martin Bacall
Zhang’s place among the heavyweight elite has always been in doubt. He’s a bit lumbering with a questionable gas tank, but his abilities are legit and the technical skills are there. Zhang really started to prove himself in the 2022 conversation when he lost a very controversial decision to Filip Horgavich. He bounced back with back-to-back stops by Joe Joyce before running into Parker, who was too good for Zhang’s low-output. Zhang again rescued his career in his most recent outing, scoring a brutal knockout of Wilder and putting himself on the brink of title contention. A fight with fellow powerhouse Bacall is a can’t miss heavyweight spectacle.
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